(TCI) Are Part of the British Overseas Territorie

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The Turks and Caicos Islands

BACKGROUND

Geography

The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) are part of the British Overseas

Territories in the Caribbean, situated some 575 miles southeast of Miami. The

TCI are part of the Bahamas chain and cover some 193 square miles (430 square

km). To reach the 40 TCI atolls (or cays), you take a short 75-minute flight from

Miami. Six of the TCI islands are permanently inhabited: Grand Turk, Salt Cay,

South Caicos, Middle Caicos, North Caicos, and Providenciales. Grand Turk has

the highest elevation at 163 feet and is home to the territorial capital, Cockburn

Town. Providenciales, often called “Provo,” is the business and tourist center and

remains the most populous island. The major languages are English and Creole.

Population

The total population counted 33,202 in 2006, with an estimated indigenous

“Belonger” population of 11,750 (34 percent) and 21,452 “non-Belongers” (66

percent). The estimated population for 2007 was about 34, 862. In 2007 about 400

to 500 illegal “boat people” per week were coming to the TCI.1 Provo-island

houses a new detention facility for illegal immigrants.

Non-Belongers consist mostly of immigrants from Haiti and the

Dominican Republican, as well as American, Canadian, British, and other

European expatriate residents and workers. Though Belongers are not fully defined in law, the TCI Constitution makes frequent reference to them. For example, a person seeking appointment to office in public or government service must be a Belonger. 2

The majority of the population is of African descent, the rest being of mixed race. About 14,000 former TCI islanders live in the Bahamas and some return for seasonal work. TCI’s population is mostly Protestant Christian.3

Economy

The main economy is based on tourism and offshore financial services, with the United States and Canada being the leading sources of those businesses.

TCI is a “zero tax” jurisdiction. It has no income, capital gain, wealth, gift, or inheritance taxes. TCI has no tax treaties with any other jurisdictions. The major sources of government revenue include stamp duties, customs receipts, and fees from offshore financial activities. The U.S. dollar is used as the local currency.

TCI has no central bank or monetary authority. There are no restrictions on movement of funds into or out of TCI.

The TCI have a structure for financial supervision that encompasses banking, insurance, mutual funds, investment brokers, trusts, trustees, companies’ registrations, and company service providers. The banking sector, consisting of seven banks, is small but pivotal in the financial structure of TCI. Specialized insurance, in the form of producer-owned reinsurance companies (PORCs) is a major and growing line of business in the offshore financial sector. TCI trusts and corporate vehicles for offshore clients provide the basis for an active trust and company service provider sector.4 Recently, the TCI have seen an upsurge in cruise ships and their registration on Grand Turk. The economic and financial structure of TCI and the corporate vehicles available under TCI law make it vulnerable to money laundering. A variety of money laundering cases involving

TCI have been prosecuted or are under investigation.

Annual tourism amounted to about 200,000 in 2007, particularly with holiday makers from Canada. This is one of the reasons why the Canadian government has made continuous efforts to annex the TCI over the past years.

The labor force totaled around 12,000 workers in 2008, of which over 50 per cent were unskilled non-Belongers. Additional social and economic indicators are presented in Table 1.

[Table 1 here]

History

There has been a considerable amount of political conflict surrounding the ownership of the Turks and Caicos Islands not only within the Caribbean, such as Bermuda and the Bahamas, but within the British Empire. The Spanish explorer

Juan Ponce De Leon first put these cayos (small islands) on the map in 1512.

After brief Spanish rule in the fifteen hundreds, the Caicos Islands served as a hideout to pirates, such as Francois L’Olonnais, Blondel, Captain Dulaien, Jack

Rackham, and two infamous female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. The

Turks islands were occupied by the French, Spanish, or British, in turn.

One might well describe the inherent racial strife that exists on TCI as being a conflict between Belongers and non-Belongers. Some of it results from the fact that both Bahamians and Turks claim that Christopher Columbus first discovered their shores on October 12, 1492. The Bahamas renamed Watling

Island as San Salvador and TCI passed similar legislation for their national park, by renaming one of their cays. Both nations celebrate Columbus Day on 12

October each year.

Historical data is patchy, though the museum on Grand Turk Island provides some useful archived material that tells us that Bermudans arrived on these islands during the mid-sixteen hundreds and started a thriving salt business.

Some of the main salt ponds ( salinas ) survived until the mid-twentieth century, with the new prison, Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Grand Turk, built on the largest salina. Bermuda was then in possession of the Turks from the mid-sixteenth century onwards. Thereafter, for about a century, the rule of English law prevailed throughout the Commonwealth. Spanish and French forces seized the Turks islands in 1706, but Bermudian forces expelled them four years later in what was probably Bermuda’s only independent military operation.

When the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 left British loyalists (Tories) from South Carolina and Georgia without a homeland, many took advantage of British Crown Land Grants and settled on the TCI. Salinas and cotton plantations prospered for nearly 25 years until the boll weevil (cotton bug) destroyed them.

The TCI were formally federated with the Bahamas under the Bahamas

Act of 1799 . In 1806 the Bermudian customs authorities acknowledged Bahamian annexation when it ceased to allow free exchange between the Turks and

Bermuda. This affected many enslaved Bermudians, who, like the free ones, had occupied the TCI only seasonally, returning to their homes in Bermuda after the year’s salt raking had finished. During the French Revolution (1789–1799),

French privateers became a menace to British and American shipping in the West

Atlantic and Caribbean, resulting in the quasi-war between the United States and

France and to the Royal Navy (1798 – 1800) largely fought at sea.

In 1807 the British Royal Navy seized hundreds of slaves from the Turks islands and set them free on the shores of the Bahamas, which is another reason why some Turk islanders’ roots can be traced to the Bahamas. The Slavery

Abolition Act 1833 ended slavery in 1834 in the British Empire. Emancipation

Day is celebrated to this effect on August 1 each year, heralding the liberation from slavery of millions of Africans in the diasporas of the Caribbean, particularly in the TCI, Anguilla, Guyana, Antigua, Barbados, Bahamas, and

Bermuda.

During the 1840s the British government assigned political control of the

TCI to the Bahamas, but in 1848 the TCI gaining full colonial status and separation from the Bahamas with their own elected legislative board and an administrative council president. However, in 1873, the TCI were annexed to

Jamaica and it remained under Jamaican rule for some 90 years, until Jamaica gained independence in 1962. Until then, the Turks and Caicos islands were part of the Federation of the West Indies.

On May 31, 1962 the TCI became a British crown colony with its own administrator, but in 1965 the governor of the Bahamas took over governance of the TCI. When the Bahamas gained independence from the United Kingdom in

1973, the TCI once again became a constitutional self-governing part of the

British Overseas Territories.

In 1974 a Private Member’s Bill from the Canadian House of Commons by Max Saltsman, Leader of the New Democratic Party, proposed that the Turks and Caicos Islands be annexed to Canada. However, the bill did not succeed in the

Canadian House of Commons. In 1976 the TCI were granted their first full

Constitution establishing an elective form of government. This Constitution was suspended in 1986.5 A new Constitution followed in 1988, which was eventually superseded by the present Constitution of 2006 and brought into force with the

Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution Order 2006 .6

Governance

Today TCI is an internally self-governing Overseas Territory (OT) of the

United Kingdom with a ministerial system of government. The British monarch,

Queen Elizabeth II, is the sovereign of all OTs, represented by respectively appointed governors. The United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office overseas all OTs’ policies and supports the appointed governors. The governor of

TCI retains responsibility for internal security, external affairs, defense, public service, and offshore finance. The governor appoints the judiciary, as well as the attorney general and the chief secretary.

The ministerial system of government of the TCI has a premier as head of government. The TCI’s Executive Council consists of three ex-officio members plus five appointed members by the governor chosen from among the members of the Legislative Council. The TCI Cabinet is comprised of the governor, the premier, six ministers, and the attorney general. The governor chairs the Cabinet and is responsible for external affairs, defense, internal security, and the regulation of international financial services. The TCI Parliament is referred to as the House of Assembly and consists of the speaker, 15 elected members, four appointed members, and the attorney general. The governor grants Belonger status on the basis of the length of time that a person has stayed in the TCI, the contribution they have made to the country and how they have assimilated into the community. In each case, the governor should consult with the Secretary of State.7

The two main political parties are the Progressive National Party (PNP), and the Peoples’ Democratic Movement (PDM). Loosely defined, the PNP resembles the conservatives and the PDM is the labor party. The policies of both parties are fairly parochial, resembling English local or parish councils. About

9,000 Belongers were eligible to vote in the February 2007 general election, where the PNP party won 60 percent of the votes and 13 of the 15 seats in the

House of Assembly. The next general election is due in 2011. Full parliamentary assembly meetings are held three times a year. Suffrage is universal for those over

18 years of age and only Belongers can vote.

Legal System

TCI’s legal system is based on English common law; however, some customary laws still exist from Jamaica and the Bahamas. Most of the laws derive from ordinances passed in the legislative council and, to a lesser extent, from legislation specially extended to TCI by the United Kingdom. In the case where statutory law does not apply or requires interpretation, the common law applies.

The attorney general is responsible for all legal advice to the TCI government, for all prosecutions, law revision, and law reform.

The court system is comprised of the Magistrates’ Court, the Supreme

Court, and Court of Appeal, all of which sit in the TCI. The final court of appeal in all civil and criminal matters is the Privy Council at London’s Westminster. The

Supreme Court is vested with the same jurisdiction and powers as the high court of England and Wales. Powers to pardon lie with the queen but are exercised by the governor.

The judges of the Supreme Court must be qualified barristers or solicitors, either from the U.K., any part of the Commonwealth, or Ireland, or they must be a member of the Faculty of Advocates or a Writer to the Signet of Scotland. All judges are appointed by the governor. The TCI Court of Appeal consists of a president and two justices of appeal, determined and appointed by the governor on his discretion.

Sentencing

The Supreme and Magistrates’ courts of the TCI have a limited sentencing range available which is not always in line with English law on the UK mainland.

This means there is a disparity between the Turks and Caicos and English sentencing laws (e.g. Evidence (Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) (Turks and

Caicos Islands) Order 1987 , Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 1266).

For example, the maximum for indecent assault in England being ten years and for assault five years, and in the TCI being two years.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council – part of the Ministry of

Justice in London - is the court of final appeal for the UK overseas territories and

Crown dependencies. The Committee – made up usually of five judges - has complete discretion whether to grant special leave, mostly granted in criminal cases, where leave cannot usually be granted by the Court of Appeal in London, but it is sometimes granted in civil cases where the local Court of Appeal has for any reason refused leave.

The TCI Court of Appeal sits for two weeks twice a year, hearing criminal and civil appeal matters. There were two appeals pending before the Privy

Council Judicial Committee in 2007 (Privy Council Appeal Statistics, 2007).

CRIME

Classification of Crimes

TCI’s criminal justice system is adversarial (accusatorial) in nature, based on English criminal law. Classification of criminal offenses follows English procedural and criminal justice legislation, such as the Criminal Justice Act 2003 or the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 . Less serious crimes are referred to as “summary offenses” and serious ones are known as “indictable offenses.” Similar to English criminal procedure, all criminal offenders are brought in the first instance before a TCI magistrates’ court, in order to decide where the defendant should be tried. Rules of evidence also follow English law supplemented by local statutory instruments.

Drugs and Money Laundering

By far the most serious offenses on TCI today involve international organized crime, such as drug trafficking and money laundering, because the TCI are one of the main transshipment points for illicit drugs for South American narcotics destined for the U.S. and Europe (see Box 1).8 Money laundering offenses extend to proceeds derived from all serious (indictable) offenses and self-laundering is covered. Corporate bodies can also be held liable for money laundering. However, one problem lies in the fact that money laundering is criminalized by four statutes on TCI. This means that drug and non-drug money laundering regimes run parallel and issues of consistency arise. The International

Monetary Fund Report of 2005 recommended that TCI urgently needed to harmonize and unify all applicable money laundering offenses by removing the distinctions between drug and non-drug money laundering, and consolidating all legislation regarding money laundering into one statute for the TCI and other

OTs.

[Box 1 here]

TCI domestic laws enable a range of drug-related mutual legal assistance under the Criminal Justice (International Cooperation) Ordinance of 1998 and enforcement of overseas confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime

Ordinance 1998 (Designated Countries and Territories Order 2001 ). Various bilateral U.K. and U.S. money laundering statutory instruments deal with and allow for judicial cooperation concerning the financing of terrorism in Overseas

Territories.

All OT mutual assistance must be channeled through the governor and the attorney general’s chambers for non-U.S. related cases, or the chief magistrate for

U.S. related cases. Law enforcement assistance from TCI can be obtained through the police via Interpol channels, though there are also informal arrangements. No formal arrangements authorize TCI law enforcement authorities to conduct cooperative investigations or coordinated seizure and forfeiture actions with other jurisdictions. However, such cooperation is said to exist. There is an abundance of banking and financial services laws to fight money laundering on TCI and to stop the financing of terrorist organizations. Still, declaration of items left in bank safety deposit boxes is not yet compulsory; though banks now include in their lease agreement that they have the right to inspect the contents of safety boxes.

The volume of legislation on TCI, and indeed the other Overseas Territories, makes it difficult to regulate and oversee the financial sector; thereby creating conditions favorable to being a tax haven and facilitating money laundering operations from overseas. In February of 2003 the Executive of the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) conducted a large-scale investigation into the TCI’s economic and financial structure linked to off-shore finance and money laundering. Detailed assessments were carried out for the banking and insurance sectors, as well as for the regime for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism. The report established that by the end of 2002 there were a large number of foreign banks and insurance companies on TCI. There were eight licensed banks, of which six were national banks and two were offshore banks with no banking operations in TCI. Three banks conducted a largely retail banking business and account for the bulk of bank assets and deposits. Total bank on-balance sheet assets were $480 million. There were two offshore banks carry on banking business in Panama and Venezuela. There were 3,013 licensed insurance companies, and there were no details available as to the total assets.

The 2005 IMF report concluded that English common law legal and banking regulations were inadequate to deal with fraud and money laundering on the TCI. The IMF found large inconsistencies in banking legislation and regulatory guidelines regarding disclosure and money laundering. There was a total lack of transparency. Many banks and insurance companies did not produce annual reports, making fraud and money laundering easy for those in the know.

The IMF strongly recommended that the U.K. government make efforts to put in place additional regulatory resources and, if this did not happen immediately, TCI would continue to be exposed to the risk of its financial and corporate services being misused for illegal purposes (see Box 2).

[Box 2 here]

Interpol, the world’s largest police organization facilitating international police cooperation, has a permanent sub-bureau on the TCI. Interpol’s Anti-

Money Laundering Unit cooperates with Europol’s Financial Crime Unit in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing by placing specific liaison officers on the TCI as points of contact for its Camden Assets Recovery Inter-

Agency Network (CARIN). CARIN is an informal international network for tracing, freezing, seizing, and confiscating the proceeds from criminal activities.

From 24 February 2003, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 provided the UK Assets

Recovery Agency with unique powers to confiscate assets within the EU and its overseas territories, thereby helping to reduce transnational organized crime.

Illegal Immigration

Another problem is illegal immigration mainly from Haiti, whose people are fleeing economic and civil disorder. Though the British government has joined forces with U.S. authorities to strengthen border control, the Navy appears to do nothing, according to the TCI government. In 2007 the premier called for increased inter-agency cooperation and intelligence exchange between U.K. customs, immigration and police services, and the U.S.A.

Crime Statistics

The official TCI tourism website informs visitors that crime on the islands is “the lowest in the Caribbean,” but recorded police statistics show that violent crime is on the increase, mostly linked to drug-trafficking from Latin America to the U.S.-mainland via Miami. Most property crimes are committed on

Providenciales and Grand Turk by inter-islanders. The Royal Turks and Caicos

Police Force has been strengthened and increased in size due to additional British government overseas aid funding in 2003, which accounts for the increase in arrests and charges (“clear up rates”). Five Cays and Chalk Sound now have sub- police stations to conquer organized illegal drug trafficking into Miami.

Police statistics for 2006 showed a decrease in crime by 17 percent in

Providenciales, whereby 287 fewer crimes were reported compared with the previous year. However, there was a sharp increase in recorded crime on Grand

Turk, accounting for a quarter of all crime committed on TCI, with an increase of

148 percent in 2006, compared with the previous year. The latter can be attributed to increased police resources on Grand Turk as well as new stop-and-search powers. In 2003 some 505 persons were arrested and charged. This figure decreased to 467 in 2005 and rose again to 557 in 2006. Police clearance rates have averaged 30 percent since 2005. Providenciales, the holiday island, continues to report the largest proportion of crime (67 percent in 2007) (see Box 3).

[Box 3 here]

Like in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the age of criminal responsibility is aged ten and adult crime begins at age 18. Juvenile delinquency is a large social problem, mainly linked to the Haitian boat people crisis with large influxes of children being dumped on TCI and trafficked to other Caribbean islands or sold to Florida. The number of teenage boys involved in crime has increased dramatically, though there are still low prosecution results, something which continues to worry TCI government.9 In 2005 14 boys were charged with property offenses compared with 69 in 2006, which is a 40 per cent increase.

Most of them are repeat offenders. Three teenage girls were arrested and charged in 2005.

Most reported crimes are tourist- and vehicle-related, making up 17 per cent of the total crimes reported in 2006. There were 263 reported “motor-vehicle interferences” in 2005. This decreased in 2006 to 120, a decline of 54 per cent.

The offense of “taking a motor vehicle without authority” decreased from 115 to

59 over the same period, a drop of over 50 per cent. There were 34 firearms offenses in 2006. Of the 38 robberies reported in 2006, 74 per cent involved the use of firearms, 35 of which occurred on Providenciales. A gun amnesty was held in 2007 in an effort to combat gun-related crime in the TCI. The TCI Free Press’ annual public opinion poll of 2006 showed that the fear-of-crime-element had decreased, with locals feeling ‘safer’ due to an increased police presence on the islands. In 2005, 82 non-Belongers were charged with at least one criminal offense and 128 in 2006. Police and government reports state that most crimes are committed by illegal immigrants from neighboring Haiti.10

FINDING OF GUILT

All criminal investigations and prosecutions are instigated by the attorney general (AG). Pre-trial detention on remand is common place directed from the magistrates’ court on Provo Island. Since the English Bail Act 1976 has never properly been incorporated into the TCI criminal procedural rules, a defendant does not have the prima facie right to bail, as would be the case in an English court section 4, Schedule 1 of the Bail Act 1976 . Alternative sanctions, such as community punishment orders do not yet exist; consequently, there is no probation service. Trial of indictable (serious) offenses is by judge and jury in the main courthouse of Grand Turk, although this burned down in October 2007.

Since January 2008 video-conferencing facilities exist at the

Providenciales Magistrates’ Court. The direct court video system links the justices’ bench straight into HMP Grand Turk, aimed to make considerable savings in the prison’s budget, as it reduces the number of inmates who are being transported to and from the court by air for short hearings. The system is mainly used for bail and further remand hearings, and each hearing typically takes about ten minutes of court time. Full trials and preliminary inquiries still require the inmate to appear at court in person. The TCI are awaiting another new magistrate’s court plus a new Supreme Court, both of which will service HMP

Grand Turk.

PUNISHMENT

Types of Punishments

Due to deep rooted Christian values and beliefs on the TCI, crime is still associated with sin, impurity, and evil. Local Belongers strongly believe in retributive justice in that the criminal must be punished severely for his wrong- doing and misdemeanors. Prison sentences tend to be long and the local population thinks this a suitable sacrifice towards an aggrieved deity. Generally, the court makes no distinction between the sentencing of a male, female, or juvenile offender for similar crimes. Accommodation is usually in the one prison, which is HMP Grand Turk (see Box 4).

[Box 4 here]

The TCI Parliament has frequently debated the reintroduction of corporal punishment and the death penalty, although it is fair to say that these options will not be available as long as TCI remain a British Overseas Territory. For this reason, sentencing punishment tends to be more severe than in England for similar offenses, whereby non-Belongers are often doubly punished. Convicted drink-driving offending tourists are immediately expelled from the islands preceded by remand in custody without bail. Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs are severe; convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines. Engaging in sexual conduct with children, and using or disseminating child pornography in a foreign country are offenses punished by imprisonment under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 . Homosexuality was an illegal act until the Caribbean Territories (Criminal Law) Order of 2000 legalized homosexual acts between two consenting adults in private.

Corporal punishment was still in existence until 1998 and was used in the old local prison principally on juveniles even though torture by public officials in the course of their duties had officially been abolished in 1988. When the

European Torture Commission of the Council of Europe visited the TCI in 1998 the inspectors took particular interest in the management of prisoners at HMP

Grand Turk. The Commission noted with concern that prisoner beatings by staff were commonplace and the report strongly recommended the removal of corporal punishment from the TCI’s statute books. The Torture Commission stated that corporal punishment was no longer acceptable in a modern society and that the maltreatment of prisoners in the new HMP Grand Turk was contrary to the

European Convention. Subsequently, on 25 March 1998, the TCI’s Legislative Council passed new legislation and removed all references to corporal punishment from three statutes: the Offences against the Person Ordinance , the Young Offenders

Punishment Ordinance and the Malicious Injuries to Property Ordinance , all of which had previously provided for corporal punishment. The death penalty was abolished in 1991 under the Abolition of Death Penalty for Murder – Caribbean

Territories Act 1991 for treason and piracy-related offenses.

Since the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental

Freedoms came into force in England and Wales by way of the Human Rights Act

1998 in October 2000, the British Overseas Territories are expected to comply fully with the convention as well as all other international human rights instruments. In particular, Article 3 of this convention prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Additionally, the United Nations

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, or Punishment requests regular reports on the treatment of persons in police or prison custody every four years.

Prison

The TCI society has historically regarded prison as an ancient ritual institution which “cleanses the soul” in order to stop crime “polluting society.”11 Imprisonment was originally reserved for black slaves and later extended to “low- class freemen” offenders regardless of social status.

When the English Chief Inspector of Prisons, Judge Stephen Tumim, inspected the old prison on Grand Turk in 1988, he wrote that the prison needed to be replaced and basic staff training needed to be approved. 12 That same year the TCI Parliament passed new prison legislation to address these concerns.

Judge Tumim returned to Grand Turk Prison in 1991, undertaking a follow-up inspection. In his report to the TCI Attorney General, he noted that the prison was overcrowded, with few structured programs for inmates, and poor dietary conditions. There were severe problems with prison management. There was also no system of parole, suspended sentences, or visitation. 13

Following Judge Tumim’s damming reports, the old prison was eventually demolished and HMP Grand Turk was built in 1997, following designs of

London’s Pentonville Prison of 1842 with its traditional radial star-shaped design.

Though the prison was initially designed to hold 104 inmates, HMP Grand Turk held 113 prisoners, including remands and juveniles in December 2006.

Since its inception, the prison has experienced problems with racial integration amongst staff and prisoners, the causes can still be attributed to historical events. Very few local prisoners tend to populate the prison; the majority of inmates are from neighboring Jamaica, Haiti, or the Dominican

Republic. On arrival, many demand separate living units, often to the detriment of female prisoners. After the volcanic eruptions on Montserrat in 1998, prisoners were evacuated from HMP Montserrat to the new prison at HMP Grand Turk. The

Montserratians demanded separate accommodation, objected to local TCI guards, also objecting to some Jamaican prison officers. This resulted in separate

Montserratian prison guards being flown hundreds of miles to guard their own prison population. Although this was seen as only a temporary measure, this arrangement of taking long-term prisoners from Montserrat continued until 2005.

Eventually, the Grand Turk prison administration refused to take any more foreign prisoners due to overcrowding.

Today, the majority of prisoners is either remanded or convicted in connection with the illegal drugs or money laundering trade. Due to long and harsh prison sentences, the relatively small prison has become overcrowded, housing adult male and female, as well as some young offenders, in very confined space.

Race relations among staff continue being a problem. The 2000 European

Torture Commission’s report urgently recommended that the TCI government pass specific legislation that would prohibit racial discrimination, which was openly practiced at HMP Grand Turk as well as by other official authorities on the

TCI. Though the 2006 TCI Constitution provided for separate accommodation for juvenile prisoners under 16 under section 3 of the Turks and Caicos Islands

Constitution Order 2006 ( S.I. 1913) the prison still accommodates unconvicted juvenile prisoners from time to time. Child protection legislation is still in need of reform regarding corporal punishment in schools.

Following the European Torture Commission Report of 2000, UK government aid was released to construct a separate juvenile detention and rehabilitation centre, by converting the old police headquarters at Cockburn

Town. By 2006 the facility was to become part of the Department of Social

Development and this Safe Holding Facility was to provide sixteen units for convicted juvenile males under 18. Due to a large organized petition by Grand

Turk residents, followed by a public demonstration, construction of the Juvenile

Rehabilitation Center was halted by the TCI cabinet in 2007. This means that juveniles are still being held at HMP Grand Turk, thereby arguably violating the

Constitution of 2006.

HMP Grand Turk came under further scrutiny and criticism by the law enforcement agency in 2006, following a number of security breaches and serious riots at the prison. All disturbances were related to illegal drugs and followed the arrest in July 2006 of a prison officer, who had worked at the prison for over two years and was found with 90 grams of cannabis hidden in his vehicle. After he pleaded guilty to the charge of possession with intent to supply he was fined

$3,500 and deported back to Jamaica. In 2005 HMP Grand Turk introduced some correctional industries (prison workshops) outside its perimeters, including apprenticeships in carpentry and tailoring, funded by a public outreach program. Members of the community assist with the rehabilitation of some less dangerous prisoners, with limited educational and vocational training facilities also offered. A small prison shop outside the prison walls sells prisoner-made furniture. Of the 30 percent of prisoners on remand in 2007, only very few were permitted to participate in rehabilitative constructive regimes. Maximum security and mentally ill prisoners are excluded from programmed activities, though some long-term inmates were involved in the construction of a new building to accommodate improved facilities for learning and counseling programs inside HMP Grand Turk. By April 2007 the prison’s superintendent had introduced sentence planning for long-term inmates, which reviewed prisoners’ progress every six months.

Juvenile offending remains on the increase with little room for juveniles at the local prison. The Department for Social Development tries, wherever possible, to send young convicted offenders outside TCI for rehabilitation in the absence of a juvenile detention facility. In 2007 seven male juvenile offenders were accommodated at the Jamaican Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, part of the

Jamaican Department of Corrections. Three juveniles were at a Seventh-Day

Adventist facility in West Virginia and a further 18 young males were accommodated at HMP Grand Turk. A U.K. government report of 2006 noted that sending juvenile convicts outside the TCI for punishment created an unnecessary expense; furthermore that the TCI government was losing sight of the care and rehabilitation of its young offenders.